AZTECS STILL FEELING STING OF BULLDOGS’ PASS ATTACK

Slowing Carr vital to SDSU’s chance at victory Saturday

Fresno St. at Aztecs

Saturday: 7:30 p.m. at Qualcomm Stadium

On the air: ESPN2; 105.7-FM, 1090-AM

Thinking about the 2012 Fresno State game still leaves a sour taste in Eric Pinkins’ mouth.

“We were up 21-7 and I really thought we were about to whup them,” said Pinkins, a senior safety for the Aztecs who is second on the team with 4.5 tackles for loss this season. “And then as the game went on, we started slacking off and they started coming back.”

Everyone knows how that narrative ended.

San Diego State (3-3 overall, 2-0 Mountain West) gave up two touchdowns and a field goal to close out the scoring, allowed quarterback Derek Carr to pass for 536 yards, and lost 52-40.

That one still stings. And as the Bulldogs (6-0 overall, 3-0 MWC), ranked 17th in the BCS, roll into town this Saturday, the Aztecs’ safeties are taking things personally.

“We talk about it every day,” said safeties coach Danny Gonzales. “They had more than 500 yards against us, and almost 400 at halftime. That’s a personal pride deal in the secondary.”

SDSU had a different pair of cornerbacks last year, but the veteran safeties — Pinkins, Nat Berhe, Marcus Andrews, Gabe Lemon and Rene Siluano — were unfortunate participants in Carr’s throwing clinic.

“They were out there on every single play, and they haven’t forgotten,” Gonzales said. “So we’re excited to get another chance.”

Fresno State’s 2013 offense is almost identical to what it ran in 2012, but the main players are all much improved from a year ago.

Carr (70.4 percent pass completion, 23 TDs, 2,276 yards) is more mobile than in 2012 because he played most of last season with a torn abdominal muscle.

“It’s the best group of receivers we’ll play this year,” Gonzales said. “They’re great athletes and they all catch the ball tremendously well. But the most impressive thing about them is they block their tails off. They’re a most physical group.

“You’re going to see some collisions on Saturday when they throw their bubble screen.”

After all, it is one of the Bulldogs’ favorite plays. It also caused the Aztecs tremendous fits last season.

“We didn’t really attack the bubble screen like we should have,” Berhe said. “They run a lot of stuff out of that. They like to lull you to sleep on second down with bubble (screens) then they hit you with the big one.

“I think (this year) we’ve done a really good job attacking that and getting guys on the ground.”

Gonzales said the safeties are tackling well in space and must be aggressive.

But as Pinkins notes, the biggest issue in last year’s Battle for the Oil Can was how the Aztecs took their foot off the gas midway through.

“We lost that game,” said Pinkins, who had what was then a career-high eight tackles, and a 32-yard pick-six in SDSU’s defeat. “We’ve got to finish a game from the first quarter all the way to the fourth quarter.”